Category: Aviation

Flouting Safety, Stymied DGCA and Bollywood!

A domestic commerical airliner in India has been recently found to have flouted flight safety norms almost four months back. The captain of the aircraft allowed a supernumerary pilot to undertake landing, when that pilot was neither qualified nor authorised for piloting duties! Indian DGCA recommended suspension of the concerned airline’s flight safety officer. The …

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NVG: Why the Neck Pains?

An informal query on a professional forum whether helicopter pilots suffer from neck pain while using NVG (1), a small group chose to share their thoughts and concerns. Eight of the respondents affirmed that they had discomfort or pain, including disc prolapse and pressure on the nerves as reported by one pilot each. However, there …

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Drunken Pilots, Unsafe Lives: Unfolding an Indian Story…

In a mockery to safety of fare paying passengers, couple of aircrew were found drunk while reporting for duty on new year eve. This included one first officer and three non-flying crew, employed by three of the private commercial airline companies in India [1].

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Airlines in Financial doldrums – Can Indian skies stay Safe?

After surveillance of airlines’ financial status, DGCA has surmised that poor financial outcome may affect the safety culture of the affected airlines [1].

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NVG: Pain in the Neck!

Use of Night Vision Goggle (NVG) amongst helicopter aircrew is becoming a matter of concern [1]. On one hand, the pain in the neck is reportedly 29% amongst Australian helicopter aircrew [2], while it peaks to more than 90% Canadian Forces helicopter pilots with more than 150 hours of NVG flight [3]. Other likely causes …

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